Bungee sling and method of making

ABSTRACT

A sling that includes a first strap having an elastic sidewall enclosing a hollow interior and a pair of elastic cords attached to the strap and located inside the hollow interior of the strap, the first strap further comprising a first connector member on a first end of the first strap; and a second strap having an elastic sidewall enclosing a hollow interior and a pair of elastic cords attached to the strap and located inside the hollow interior of the strap, the second strap further comprising a second connector member on a first end and releasably connectable to the first connector member of the first strap, the first and second straps each having second ends permanently coupled together.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure pertains to slings for carrying and manipulating an object and, more particularly, to a sling adapted for use with firearms to accommodate rapid weapon deployment and use in a variety of tactical environments.

2. Description of the Related Art

Slings are of ancient origin, devised generally of a loop of rope, strap, or a chain for supporting a load. While its history remains unknown, the sling is in widespread use in modern times in connection with a variety of manual and mechanical uses, including baby slings, arm slings, camera slings, musical instrument slings, and weapon slings.

When used manually, a properly designed sling will distribute the load for balance and comfort, and it will facilitate use of the load. For example, a baby sling holds the baby close to the caregiver in a manner that keeps the caregiver's hands free and avoids back strain while keeping the baby in a position to see the caregiver and be fed and comforted. Slings used for musical instruments are designed for load support and comfort while positioning the instrument so it can be played and, in some cases, so that music can be supported thereon for reading by the carrier.

Slings for weapons, and in particular rifles, shotguns, and long-barreled weapons, have been designed to provide not only hands-free support, but to facilitate bringing the weapon quickly into a ready-to-use position. Such designs include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,211,351; 4,823,491; 5,810,219; 5,971,239; 6,260,748; 6,325,258; 6,536,153; 6,598,330; and D495,870.

One area of concern is accommodating rapid deployment and use, including retraction and retention of a weapon, such as a rifle. While prior slings attempt to address this issue with the use of adjustment devices or multifunctional sling mounts, such approaches can be complex, costly, and time consuming to implement in the filed and in some cases create noise that can interfere with the intended use.

In the past, designers have incorporated elastic elements into the sling to allow a weapon to be thrust away from the user's body. For example, a single elastic cord has been used, but in order to properly support the weight of the resting weapon, the elastic had to be thick and heavy. This is not preferred because if the elastic cord is too thick it will cut into the user's shoulder or trapezius, resulting in discomfort, possible injury, and inhibiting proper use of the weapon.

While a sling can incorporate a smaller one piece elastic cord, it will be too small and not support the weapon. The weight of the weapon will cause the elastic cord to stretch out, completely rending the elastic cord useless for its intended purpose. This describes most, if not all, of such type of stretchable slings on the market, which use elastic cord in only one side of the sling; this results in a less than ideal performance because the stretch is neither even nor uniform and in the fraction of a second that a user needs to reach out with the weapon, such as in hand-to-hand combat, the weapon can veer off to one side (the side without bungee) causing the user to miss the intended point of impact.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In accordance with the disclosed embodiments of the present disclosure, a sling is provided that includes a first strap having an elastic sidewall or tubular webbing enclosing a hollow interior and a pair of elastic cords attached to the strap and located inside the hollow interior of the strap, the first strap further comprising a first connector member on a first end of the first strap; and a second strap having an elastic sidewall or tubular webbing enclosing a hollow interior and a pair of elastic cords attached to the strap and located inside the hollow interior of the strap, the second strap further comprising a second connector member on a first end and releasably connectable to the first connector member of the first strap, the first and second straps each having second ends permanently coupled together.

As will be readily appreciated from the foregoing, the bungee sling of the present disclosure allows the sling to expand as well as contract in order to provide two completely separate functions:

Expand: the elastic bungee sling allows the user to evenly and accurately push his weapon away from the user's body (which could not be done with a traditional, fixed/non-bungee sling). Instances of this would be:

striking an opponent with the barrel or muzzle of the weapon, which helps subdue opponents and encourage compliance with verbal commands,

striking an opponent with any other part of the weapon, i.e. magazine, grip, etc., which is useful when an opponent is trying to gain control over a user's weapon, and

lengthening the reach of the weapon to push open a door without the user's body having to get physically closer to the door.

Shrink/Contract: when stretched or lengthened, the kinetic energy stored up in the lengthened elastic cords inside the sling urges the sling to shrink or contract back to its original length. This is useful to many users because it pulls the weapon back into the user's shoulder, providing a more solid shoulder mount and thus a more accurate shot. Again, this could not be done with a traditional, fixed/non-bungee sling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be more readily appreciated as the same become better understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1-48 illustrate the steps of a method of making a bungee sling in accordance with the present disclosure:

FIGS. 49 and 50 are isometric views of male and female buckle components used in the method illustrated in FIGS. 1-48;

FIG. 51 is a pictorial illustration of components used to make the bungee sling of the present disclosure; and

FIGS. 52A and 52B and pictorial illustrations of the sling supporting a weapon on a user's torso.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Cut Sheet

Part Number/PIN: S1018-X*

(*X=B (black), G (olive drab), T (coyote tan), or F (foliage green)

Material/Item Qty: 1.25. tubular webbing 35″ 1.25. tubular webbing 49″ ⅜. elastic cord 4 pieces (8″ lengths) 1.25. triglide 1 1.25. common loop 1 .Patent Pending. label 1 1.25. swivel connector 1 1.25. male QRB (Quick-Release Buckle) 1 1.25. female QRB (Quick-Release Buckle) 1

Material Identification/Nomenclature:

Procedure

1. Cut all necessary pieces and begin below with the longer piece.

Longer Piece

2. Sear one end of the longer webbing piece on both sides.

3. Sew in the triglide at the recently seared end with a box X with no less than 6 thread passes at the top and bottom of the box X. The box X should be no longer than ¾ inch.

4. Thread the free end through the common loop (FIG. 4). IMPORTANT: It is essential to maintain proper orientation of triglide while threading the common loop!

5. Thread the free end back through the triglide (FIGS. 5-7).

6. Insert elastic cords (2) into the open/non-seared end of the longer webbing piece. TIP: insert elastic cords into the tubular webbing a .finger length. or approx. 4 inches (FIG. 9).

7. Now sear this end (on both sides), sealing the elastic cords into the longer strap.

8. Threading the webbing through the female part of the QRB making sure “good side” is facing out (FIGS. 11-13). If needed, reference sample for proper orientation.

9. Next, fold webbing under as seen below making sure fold does not exceed ¾ of an inch (FIG. 14).

10. Sew in the female part of the QRB with a box X with no less than 6 passes at the top and bottom of the box X (FIG. 15).

11. As far as possible, move elastic cords to the end of the strap (FIGS. 16 & 17).

12. Bartack elastic cords in place near the end of the strap (FIGS. 18 & 19). TIP: Pinch elastic cords together during the first 2 thread passes to ensure elastic cords stays centered in the tubular webbing.

Sew two (2) bartacks ¼. apart with a minimum of 6 passes of thread per bartack.

13. Mark the strap 8 inches from end of elastic cords (FIG. 20).

14. Compress tubular webbing onto the elastic cords (as seen in FIG. 21) until the chalk mark reaches the end of elastic cords. IMPORTANT: make sure that the tubular webbing does not twist and that it sits flat on the table. If webbing twists, the sling will not be comfortable.

15. Bartack elastic cords in place near the end of the elastic cords (FIG. 22). TIP: As performed above, pinch elastic cords together during the first 2 thread passes to ensure elastic cords stays centered in the tubular webbing. The longer piece is now complete.

Shorter Piece

16. Insert bungee pieces (2) into one end of the shorter webbing piece.

17. Sear this end (on both sides) as seen in FIG. 24.

18. Now sear the opposite end (on both sides), sealing the elastic cords into the longer strap (FIG. 25).

19. Take the end farthest from the elastic cords and thread the swivel connector onto the strap (FIG. 26).

20. Then thread the male part of the QRB as shown in FIGS. 27 & 28.

21. Next, thread the end of the strap back through the loop of the swivel connector as seen in FIG. 29, to finally rest up against the male QRB (FIGS. 30 & 31). IMPORTANT: The total distance between the inside edge of the male part of the QRB and the fold should be no longer than 2¾. (FIG. 32).

22. Sew a 2 inch box X into place (FIG. 33). IMPORTANT: The box X can be no longer than 2″.

23. To determine proper placement of label, fold strap at the swivel connector (FIG. 34).

24. Place label with the right-side edge lining up with the male part of the QRB (FIG. 35). Make sure label is oriented properly (as seen below) and not upside down.

25. Sew on label (FIG. 37). IMPORTANT: Proper placement of label (without being twisted or crooked) is ESSENTIAL to Tactical Link.

26. Next, mark the free end of strap 4½ inches from the end (FIG. 38).

27. Bartack elastic cords in place near the end of the elastic cords (FIGS. 38 & 39) with 2 bartacks ¼ inch apart from each other. TIP: As performed above, pinch elastic cords together during the first 2 thread passes to ensure elastic cords stays centered in the tubular webbing.

28. Compress elastic cords as far as possible toward the label, leaving a finger widths distance between end of the elastic cords and the edge of the label as seen in FIG. 40.

29. Bartack elastic cords in place near the end of the elastic cords (FIGS. 41 & 42) with 2 bartacks ¼ inch apart from each other. TIP: As performed above, pinch elastic cords together during the first 2 thread passes to ensure elastic cords stays centered in the tubular webbing.

30. With the label and triglide facing up, thread the free end of the strap up and into the opening of the common loop (FIGS. 43-45).

31. Fold the free end as seen below in FIGS. 46 and 47.

32. Fold under the free end until it touches the common loop (FIG. 47). The width of the fold should be ½ inch (no larger than ¾ inch) as seen in FIG. 47.

33. Sew a ½ inch box X with 6 passes on the top and bottom (FIG. 48).

34. Clip any and all loose threads.

35. Compare finished product to sample.

In use, the sling provides a single point of attachment to a weapon. It is to be understood however, that the concept of the present disclosure can be extended to slings providing multiple points of attachment. The user puts the sling strap over their head and rests it on the shoulder of use (left or right). The user thus dons the sling by placing an arm and shoulder (either dominant or non-dominant) through the sling (between the sling and the weapon) and up and over his head. Then they can bring the weapon up into firing position or bring it to striking position and use it to hit without risk of having it dropped or taken away. The user can use the same firing position (weapon mounted to either the dominant or non-dominant shoulder) and simply push the weapon forward to reach out and contact an opponent or object with the weapon's muzzle; or the user can turn the weapon across his body, i.e., barrel pointing to the left and the buttstock pointing to the right, and point the magazine or pistol grip toward the opponent or object and extend the weapon toward the person or object, such as to inflict injury and pain.

As will be readily appreciated from the foregoing, the bungee sling of the present disclosure allows the sling to expand as well as contract in order to provide two completely separate functions:

Expand: the elastic bungee sling allows the user to push his weapon away from the user's body (which could not be done with a traditional, fixed/non-bungee sling). Instances of this would be:

striking an opponent with the barrel or muzzle of the weapon, which helps subdue opponents and encourage compliance with verbal commands,

striking an opponent with any other part of the weapon, i.e. magazine, grip, etc., which is useful when an opponent is trying to gain control over a user's weapon, and

lengthening the reach of the weapon to push open a door without the user's body having to get physically closer to the door.

Shrink/Contract: when stretched or lengthened, the kinetic energy stored up in the lengthened elastic cords inside the sling urges the sling to shrink or contract back to its original length. This is useful to many users because it pulls the weapon back into the user's shoulder, providing a more solid shoulder mount and thus a more accurate shot. Again, this could not be done with a traditional, fixed/non-bungee sling.

It is to be understood, however, that other materials and finishes may be used as necessitated by a particular application. Hence, while representative embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described hereinabove, it is to be understood that various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is to be limited only by the scope of the claims that follow.

All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet, are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, the concepts of the present disclosure are applicable to slings of multiple points of contact, such as 2-point and 3-point, as well as to connectors that are not necessarily swivel connectors. Accordingly, the disclosure is not limited except as by the appended claims. 

1. A sling, comprising: a first strap having an elastic sidewall enclosing a hollow interior and a pair of elastic cords attached to the strap and located inside the hollow interior of the strap, the first strap further comprising a first connector member on a first end; and a second strap having an elastic sidewall enclosing a hollow interior and a pair of elastic cords attached to the strap and located inside the hollow interior of the strap, the first and second straps each further comprising second ends that are permanently coupled together.
 2. The sling of claim 1, wherein the first and second straps are gathered about their respective elastic cords.
 3. The sling of claim 1, wherein each of the elastic cords in the pair of elastic cords is positioned side by side inside their respective first and second straps. 